Red Wings, Flyers bring similar resumes into matchup

Both teams got off to promising starts (the Red Wings won four of their first five; the Flyers won four of their first six) only to endure lengthy losing streaks (the Red Wings had skids of six and seven games; the Flyers dropped 10 in a row).

On Wednesday night in Philadelphia, the Red Wings (13-13-7) will look to win its second road game in as many nights and the Flyers (14-12-7) will try to close out a successful homestand with a win.

"We found a way to stay in the game and in the third period we played pretty well," Red Wings forward Frans Nielsen said.

The Flyers, meanwhile, are trying to avoid the reputation of being a streaky team, even though they followed an 0-5-5 stretch with a 6-0-0 run before losing to the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 on Monday.

"I think we've played really good hockey over the last 10 days or two weeks," said Flyers right winger Jakub Voracek, who scored the lone goal on Monday. "We've just got to make sure we don't get stuck on losing. We have to find a way to win on Wednesday and hopefully start another streak."

With Michal Neuvirth (lower body injury) skating but not yet cleared for game action, look for Brian Elliott (12-7-6, 2.66 GAA, .913 SP) to make his ninth straight start.

Jimmy Howard (10-9-6, 2.83, .908) is expected to get the call for the Red Wings, who are 2-0-1 in the second half of back-to-back games this season.

Asked if Elliott feels capable of making a ninth consecutive start, he seemed to suggest he'd rather have it no other way.

"I mean, that's not a question for me, that's a question for the coach," he said. "I will take the opportunity any time I get it."